Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

[Bex]

Been a bad/sad/busy few weeks

Had to fly back to the UK for a family funeral and didn't have my laptop for 2 weeks and so no LWT was done recently.

However I didn't want to completely stop my Spanish and so I downloaded the Duolingo App to take with me but found it was way too easy and so ended up doing it in reverse! Currently 3/4 of the way through learning English from Spanish.

Also transferred all my Michel Thomas CD's (which I never actually got round to listening to before) onto my phone and somehow I managed to listened to all 8 of those whilst traveling. Still can't stand those students but it did pass some time. I'll continue through the 5 advanced CD's now I'm home.

And I also copied all my level 1 GSR tracks onto my phone and again listened to them in any spare 5 mins I had....I managed to get to lesson 43....I shall now continue with this at home too.

So no progress bars to update but lots of Spanish squeezed in

[Bex]

Haven't updated this in a while. Been ridiculously busy with guests for the last 5 or 6 weeks, and basically kicking back and enjoying good company and sunshine.

Didn't want to stop with Spanish completely and so continued with my Duolingo Spanish reverse tree and now have a 99 day streak! The few sentences each day in Duolingo are definitely helping with my reading and grammar but not much more.

I have also started reading the GGB (spanish version of the BFG by Roahl Dahl) to my kids, I don't understand a lot of it but I am getting the gist of it, especially as I know the story so well. 20 pages read so far....

Would like to get back to Glossika but it's difficult with kids on school holidays, as they keep interupting!

And still watching Spanish TV on a fairly regular basis.

Anyway that's it really, keeping a little Spanish in my day here and there but somehow I feel that even just this little bit is slowly cementing in something and I am slowly getting a feel for the language.

I shall keep plodding....

[Bex]

Still plodding...

Finished my Duolingo reverse spanish tree yesterday.

I think I shall start using clozemaster.com next. If nothing else I seem to be able to fit in playing on my phone/laptop for at least half an hour each day.

Still watching TV each day and slowly picking up more and more. My listening skills seem pretty up to speed now, I can hear every word, even words merged together or shortened/dropped endings at normal everyday speed on TV. TV is not quite the same as listening on the street though

Vocabulary seems to be my big issue at the moment, I can hear the words but I don't know what they mean. Some I can guess in context but really I need to get back to using LWT. Gotta be the best way to learn vocab?

Random Clozemaster usage will have to do for now though, untill my kids go back to school.

[DaveBee]

Still plodding...

Finished my Duolingo reverse spanish tree yesterday.

I think I shall start using clozemaster.com next. If nothing else I seem to be able to fit in playing on my phone/laptop for at least half an hour each day.

Still watching TV each day and slowly picking up more and more. My listening skills seem pretty up to speed now, I can hear every word, even words merged together or shortened/dropped endings at normal everyday speed on TV. TV is not quite the same as listening on the street though

Vocabulary seems to be my big issue at the moment, I can hear the words but I don't know what they mean. Some I can guess in context but really I need to get back to using LWT. Gotta be the best way to learn vocab?

Random Clozemaster usage will have to do for now though, untill my kids go back to school.

I picked up a Teach Yourself book (Perfect Your French) in the library the other day, that I've been enjoying. You might like to check out your library there, and see if they have any 'learn spanish' books that look useful to you.

[Bex]

I picked up a Teach Yourself book (Perfect Your French) in the library the other day, that I've been enjoying. You might like to check out your library there, and see if they have any 'learn spanish' books that look useful to you.

Thanks for the suggestion DaveBee. I have loads of "teach yourself" type books (including the actual "teach yourself" one) sitting on my bookshelf unopened and unloved. I have two drawers of untouched Spanish textbooks given to me by friends and other Spanish students, who gave up!

Trouble is I find text books so dull, took me years to finish Assimil!

Now that I am using native materials more, I know what I need to work on and pretty much the order, I am OK with reading/listening with the following but my output needs some serious work in the following areas ...

1. Past tenses, slowly getting the hang of these thanks to a mixture of TV, reading, Duolingo and most helpful with this is Glossika.

2. Por vs Para, I am STILL mucking these up , really basic and need to finally get a handle on it.

2.1 Also need to work on those little in-between words de, a, etc although I am OK most of the time and I've noticed that my "feel" for these is definitely improving.

3. Vocab, especially for normal everyday (supermarket, doctors, mechanics) type situations. My recognition is OK but output is terrible.

4. Subjunctive, getting a feel for this from native input (TV etc) but nowhere near being able to produce with any confidence.

I have another month until the kids go back to school and I can get back to properly working on my Spanish again but maybe I should work on putting together a plan to tackle the above in the meantime.

[Bex]

Right new plan...until I get sidetracked again

Things I would like to improve right now.
1. Past tenses.
2. Por vs Para.
3. Prepositions
4. Vocab.
5. Subjunctive.

I had been thinking about how to improve all my items on my list at once but I think I shall concentrate on just the first 2 things for a month and then re-evaluate. My vague ideas so far....

1. Past tenses...
A) Revisit Assimil and work out which lessons were specific to Past tenses and work with these; reading and repeat listening.
B) Repeat Glossika GSR level 1 from 50 to 100, as these lessons covered past tenses.
C) Watch random past tense videos and read random past tense stuff on internet.
D) Write in past tense.

2. Por vs Para...
A) 1000 Clozemaster Por vs Para grammar challenge sentences.
B) Watch random por vs para videos and read random por vs para stuff on internet.
C) Write using por and para.

Hopefully I should be able to manage around 1-2 hours studying/reading each day plus listening as much as I can throughout the day to Assimil/Glossika.

If anyone has any feedback or suggestions please feel free to tell me I'm wasting my time or suggest something I should be doing instead.

Any resources for Por vs Para or Past tenses also gratefully received.

Will take a look through Assimil today and hopefully start tomorrow

[Bex]

More resources found...

It appears I have a Practice makes Perfect verb tenses book and I have only managed half the present tense section! I shall continue to work through this.

I have also found some good preterite and por vs para flash cards on Quizlet and so I shall add those to my daily routine I think.

Also looks like Assimil starts on the past tenses at around lesson 16, so I shall start there.

Will carry on looking through all my resources and hatch a proper plan/routine.

[Bex]

Decided to focus on just past tenses first for at least month. Preterite and then imperfect.

Plan so far is...
A) Learn the preterite working through PMP Verb book and another simular verb drills book I have each day. Adding any difficulties to Quizlet.
B) MINIMUM of 30 minutes of Quizlet each day.
C) 1 Glossika GSR lesson each day, starting at level 1 track 50.

Hoping that with a few weeks really drilling the preterite and then the imperfect I will finally get them nailed. So annoying I can recognise the past tenses when reading with relative ease but I am nowhere near being able to produce them.

Once verb drilling workbooks are finished move onto...
D) Assimil from lesson 16 onwards, really working with the texts and audio to learn past tenses.

Will try this for at least a month and see where I am, then maybe start working on por vs para

[AndyMeg]

So annoying I can recognise the past tenses when reading with relative ease but I am nowhere near being able to produce them.

I understand that feeling. Comprehension and production sometimes seem to have such a BIG gap between them. I'm myself trying to reduce that gap with my korean.

Good luck with your new plan!

[Bex]

Quick update...

I couldn't be bothered to work through the workbooks, so I just made flashcards for preterite and imperfect tenses on Quizlet, I figure it's much the same as working through a workbook.

I have also made an Anki deck for the whole of Glossika level 1 with TTS audio, which I'm also working my way through.

I am doing the flashcards everyday and lesson 58 of GSR over and over again until I really get it.

Lesson 58 has a mixture of preterite and imperfect sentences, some sentences using both. I started off muddling up the tenses all over the place but after reading many blogs and watching many YouTube videos on these two tenses, I am slowly understanding why each one is used.

I am hoping that once I'm past this stage I can produce these sentences with ease AND I understand why each tense being used, then I will move into the next lesson.

It's a slow and frustrating process but it is slowly coming together